Abstract

In spite of their ubiquity and theorized importance for ensuring compliance with terms of negotiated exchanges, contracts have been empirically understudied. This study opens the black box of contract and conducts an online experiment involving 1,860 participants to assess the effects of contractual obligation on compliance. The experiment varies how consent is experienced and how demands to continue to perform are framed (moral, instrumental, legal and social) to test the effects on performance of an undesirable task. Results suggest that seeing and choosing terms during the consent phase, and morally framing demands to continue to perform in the post-agreement phase elicit the greatest likelihood of compliance as compared to other means examined. Implications for contract-governed exchanges are discussed.